Seven counts, three losses, and one rule that kept the award standing

Think an arbitration loss is fixable on appeal? A Virgin Islands ruling on June 15 shows how rarely courts step in.

The Government of the Virgin Islands found that out the hard way. Its Bureau of Corrections battled a union over overtime pay for correction officers, lost in arbitration, lost at the trial court, and lost a third and final time at the territory's Supreme Court.

The dispute turned on a single clause in a collective bargaining agreement - the contract setting pay and conditions for unionized staff. It said officers earn time-and-a-half for hours past eight in a day, and separately for hours past 40 in a week. The Seafarers International Union, representing the officers, filed grievances in 2012 and 2013 arguing the employer's math came up short. An arbitrator sided with the union.

The employer tried to wipe out that award. It went to court with seven counts seeking to vacate, claiming the arbitrator overstepped and ignored the law. The Superior Court confirmed the award and tossed the employer's complaint. The government appealed.

This is the part worth dwelling on. The Supreme Court said plainly that its job was not to re-decide the overtime question or pick the better reading of the contract. Because both sides had agreed to binding arbitration, the court's review was deliberately narrow: had the arbitrator exceeded his authority, or manifestly disregarded the law? Simply disagreeing with...

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